Honor Your Commitments

Yesterday I was told of someone who got stood up for lunch by the same person twice.  No one likes that feeling at all.  I was recently left sitting across from the invisible man for a one-on-one that the scheduled participant didn’t bother to call me with an excuse for.  (She finally explained herself four days later, and even then only because we were both at a bigger event.)  Heck, I can remember being left waiting in the entrance of a restaurant for a girl who never showed for what was supposed to be our first date.

In the music business you will definitely alienate people quickly if you stand them up.  How will they reject you?  Consider the following experience from last week and, along the way, ask yourself if this is how you are running your music career and/or if this is a risk you might want to take.

We made our big announcement about the Summer Concert Series that we’ve booked at the Ybor Daily Market in Tampa.  Along the way, there was continued communication with the acts, including notations that they could not publicize their booking at it until we got the green light from the host site.

Immediately after the press release went out, each act was then sent a personalized email to not only tell them that they could publicize it (on their website, in social media, in their e-newsletter), but to provide a link to the specific page where attendees could buy tickets for their performance.

One of the acts replied and acknowledged and was thankful for the email, but went on to say that they’d already booked themselves somewhere else on the night we had them scheduled.  What was further troublesome was a statement, “We’re booking now into October.  We’ll be happy to get you on our calendar.”  Huh?  Get us on their calendar?  Shouldn’t that be the other way around?

Needless to say, this news was very upsetting.  Not to mention that this was surfacing after the announcement had just been sent to media, who will print it as-is.  On top of that, it’s logical to wonder, if the mere mention of “this can’t be publicized yet” left some doubt (for some reason) about the certainty of the booking, why wouldn’t the act first contact NHT when there seemed to be an opportunity to get a booking elsewhere that night?

The first thought that comes to mind for a booker in a case like that is, “I’m certainly not going to bring any gigs to this act again.”  Yes, folks, it can happen that quickly/easily.  This isn’t a three strikes, you’re out arena.  Why would someone want to take a chance on getting stood up a second or third time?

When it was brought to the act’s attention that there was an email from way back on April 23rd indicating their having been booked (by NHT for the Summer Concert Series), they showed themselves to be professional by apologizing, acknowledging their mistake, and indicating that they’d make amends – that day – so as to avail themselves to their commitment to us.  Furthermore, they did exactly that – told the venue that they’d book themselves at that they’d need to move to a different date.  An email came back to us saying they’d taken care of it and would be playing the date we booked them for.

And now they certainly will get other opportunities for bookings through us.

The temptation here is to say that hopefully that’s the way you would’ve handled it, but more importantly is being diligent to never get yourself in a position like that in the first place.